ArticleDigital health
The role of internet resources in health decision-making: a qualitative study.
Article in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.
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Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects of Social Media Narratives on Affective and Behavioral Responses to Menopause Content: Randomized Online Experimental Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Trial
- Accessibility and Decision-Supportive Quality of Benign Breast Disease Articles on Chinese Hospital WeChat Public Accounts: Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR medical informatics · 2026Article
- Communication barriers in aftercare: a qualitative study of allogeneic stem cell transplant patients.BMC cancer · 2026Article
- Relationship Between Online Health Information Acquisition and Shared Decision-Making Among Patients With Diabetes: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Quality and Readability of Online Information on Elbow Epicondylitis.Clinics in orthopedic surgery · 2026Article
- Striving to make the right decision when seeking emergency care: patients' stories of navigating support alternatives in a digital society, a qualitative study.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Census-tract broadband connectivity and the risk of diabetes, hypertension and obesity/overweight in California.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Examining Transparency in Kidney Transplant Recipient Selection Criteria: Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR AI · 2025Article
- Readability of patient education materials for lumbar disc replacement.Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) · 2025Article
- Article
- Unmet need for breast cancer screening among women of reproductive age in Ghana: a secondary analysis of the 2022 demographic and health survey.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The Effects of Patients' Health Information Behaviors on Shared Decision-Making: Evaluating the Role of Patients' Trust in Physicians.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Digital Information Exchange Between the Public and Researchers in Health Studies: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Effect of Augmented Capacity Development Interventions (ACDI) on Information Utilization for Decision-Making in the Routine Health Information System in Public Health Institutions of Gofa Zone, Southern Ethiopia: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.Health services insights · 2025Article
- Oral Health Misinformation on Youtube - A Content Analysis.Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences · 2024Article
- The Online Health Information-Seeking Behaviors of People Who Have Experienced Stroke: Qualitative Interview Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- How Readable Is the Information the United Kingdom's Statutory Health and Social Care Professional Regulators Provide for the Public to Engage With Fitness to Practise Processes?Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Article
- Understanding access to general practice through the lens of candidacy: a critical review of the literature.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2024Review
- Which Educational Topics and Smartphone App Functions Are Prioritized by US Patients With Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases? A Mixed-Methods Study.The Journal of rheumatology · 2024Article
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and the Internet of Things: A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveInternet resources remain important for health information and advice but their specific role in decision-making is understudied, often assumed and remains unclear. In this article, we examine the different ways in which internet resources play a role in health decision-making within the context of distributed decision-making.
methodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with 37 people in the United Kingdom who reported using the internet in relation to decision-making, and representing a range of long- and short-term health conditions. The interviews focused on decision-making activities across different settings and in relation to different stakeholders to understand how internet resources play a role in these activities. We carried out a thematic analysis of the interviews.
resultsWe identified three main ways in which internet resources played a role in health decision-making. A supportive role (as a decision crutch), a stimulating role (as a decision initiator), and an interactional role (impacting on the doctor-patient relationship). These three roles spanned different resources and illustrated how the decision-making process can be impacted by the encounters people have with technology - specifically internet based health resources - in different ways and at different time points.
conclusionsExamining health decisions with respect to internet resources highlights the complex and distributed nature of decision-making alongside the complexity of online health information sourcing. We discuss the role of internet resources in relation to the increasing importance of online personal experiences and their relevance within shared decision-making.
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